Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Monday, 28 January 2008 18:57
Opinion and Analysis
Page 1 of 4
Watch out iPhone – a mobile phone with a ‘roll up’ 5-inch screen is
coming to market in mid 2008, promising high readability, easily
pocketable mobility, cellphone capability and wireless connectivity.
But without a colour screen, keypad buttons, video playback or access
to a full web browser, can Readius truly rock?
Screens that could be rolled up have been promised for years, but the Readius, from
Polymer Vision, will be the first to come to the mass market in the form of a 3.5G mobile phone and online content reader when it goes on sale in the middle of the year.
Readius is a 3.5G HSDPA tri-band mobile that can make and receive voice calls, and through whichever high speed mobile network it is connected to, allow access to a range of news sources, pop3 and IMAP email, podcasts, eBooks, and other selected content, all viewed on a 5-inch ‘monochrome’ plastic roll-up screen using ‘
E-Ink ’ e-paper technology – and it weighs only 115g!
The Readius also plays MP3s and audiobooks stored on a MicroSDHC (MicroSD high capacity) card, available in sizes from 2GB to 8GB commercially and presumably the new 12GB Micro SDHC cards launched by SanDisk at CES earlier this month.
This makes it an e-reader and digital audio player, letting you have live access to read the latest online news, listen to your mp3s, audiobooks and podcasts, and read your email, while making and receiving calls.
Polymer Vision says the Readius will have its own internet portal, “designed for personalisation and content selection”, creating “a whole new mobile phone category”.
Karl McGoldrick, CEO of Polymer Vision, said in a statement that “People are demanding greater choice and flexibility in having overall instant access to personal content and information. They do not want to be concerned with small screens, not being able to read in sunlight, a dead battery or a device being too bulky to carry in their pocket. Readius solves these worries and is generations ahead of anything else out there today”.
Calling Readius “the ideal travel companion”, Polymer Vision want to convince us that a read only device is worth buying in the first generation, and that there is a market for having easily updateable information with you anywhere you are.
Doesn't some of this sound just like Amazon's Kindle, but with phone capabilities? The Readius is certainly impressive, but there are a number of
compromises that might make you want to wait for version 2.0 – or buy
an iPhone or other smartphone instead. Please read onto page 2...
